Back in Pingguo with a horological similarity

Up at 7.30am to have bite to eat and get hotel taxi to airport. Flight to Nanning was on time and uneventful. Met A Wu, A Ni and Chen Mei at airport where we got into A Wu's new car (a 20 year old Nissan Cefiro) and Chen Mei's nice white BMW.
Flew up to Pingguo at 150kph and got there in under 90 mins to have a nice meal in an air-conditioned room, followed by couple of hours kip in our house. Unfortunately our house is on the sweat-inducing 5th floor and our luggage was pretty heavy. Worse than that we are pretty much central, which means that there is loud music blaring out from 8am till after 9pm. Worse than that it is only four songs - 'All Rise', by Blue, plus 'Always Come Back To Your Love' (Samantha Mumba?), and a couple of other English ones that are driving us mad.
In the late afternoon And and I got a couple of SIM cards then went to eat and later had bbq.

Can you see a horological similarity between the photos taken on my first time to Pingguo and the one And took on our first evening?


Pingguo Bus Station in November 2003


Pingguo Bus Station by night in June 2009

That's right - they haven't fixed the clock for over 5 years. Well at least it's right twice a day.

Back to China after 5 months

We couldn't wait more than five months before coming back to China for what may be our last time for a decent duration as Leilei is going to start school later this year.
Drive took 1h30 to Heathrow leaving at 3.50pm
Meal at airport
No sleep on flight - Xixi also not much
HK airport - Andrew realised he'd lost his wedding ring - we asked someone to look for it while we waited for luggage. Miraculously it was found and Andrew was relieved like a man who had had his first dump in seven days.
No time to catch last fast train to Guangzhou, so we arranged a 'bus' from airport. I asked twice if this bus would take us all the way to Guangzhou and was told it would. The bus was a black people carrier that carried us to the border then dumped us off to get on a coach in mainland China. To add insult to injury the company had put us in the wrong coach so we had to move all our stuff into another one in sweat-drenched clothes with half-asleep children.
We got to the stop that we'd been told was 15 mins from airport to be told it was 30 mins. By now it was pissing down with rain and I ran to the front of the hotel where the coach had stopped to arrange to get a taxi-van to take us to the airport. While sorting this out a woman who was on our coach said she was waiting for her husband and they could take us to airport as they had a van. Well I didn't look this gift horse in the mouth and said xie xie very much.
We crammed into the van which was actually very small, but we just managed to get everyone in plus luggage plus the driver's wife and her friend. And managed to crack open a bottle of whisky and took an Awl-sized lug. I managed a bit too. Due to fatigue we felt a little light-headed and shared a laugh as we realised we were now well and truly in China. We paid the man and wife 100 kuai for their time/petrol and got off at airport where we waited a few more minutes for cab to hotel (free service but they didn't allow us to go straight to hotel).
10 minute drive to hotel. Not greatest one on earth but we got some food outside and got to bed around 2.

Last day in China 2008

Last day in China 2008.

No time to be sad. Got up, washed and dressed the kids, went down for breakfast. The taxi driver we'd ordered for 11am turned up at 10am and we ended up getting to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

Don't want to dwell on today. We've been extremely fortunate that I've been allowed to "work from home" in China for two of the last three months and we've had the most wonderful experience - mostly from the kids' point of view. They've been spoilt rotten in some respects, but they've been out more, and expended more energy than any time in the UK, due to weather and sheer number of friends and family taking them out.

While I love to have my family and friends in the UK I understand that Tan has the same here in China. What do we do about that in the future? It's always more practical in the UK due to work/immigration status, but it seems so much nicer in China. Oh well, next plan is to buy a property over there and see what we may one day be able to sort out re family life etc...

As for the plane ride it was grim. Xixi didn't want to sleep this time and Tan and I got barely two hours' sleep each. Awl came to meet us at Heathrow and drove us back home, where And and Lisa, and Mum, Joe and Cat kindly came to see us to welcome us back - especially nice was Joe's welcome back letter which I should scan and put up. In the meantime, here's the last nice Chinese picture I have of Leilei in Shanghai airport.


Leilei in Shanghai airport waiting to go home

Back to Shanghai and tired meal with Tan's ex-boss

Despite Tan ordering tickets to Shanghai with not enough baggage allowance, we were allowed to put all our stuff through in Nanning airport.

Don't want to write too much as it is very sad to leave "home" even if it is for "home". That's one thing you won't understand if you're both from the same country and both like "home".

We arrived in Shanghai in the evening, and Tan's ex-boss took us out for a late meal even though we were shattered. It was a lovely meal but Shanghai wasn't as exciting as Guangxi. Or maybe it wasn't as exciting as the Shanghai three months' ago when we knew we were on our way to Guangxi. Well Xixi and Leilei stayed up till we got back to the hotel at midnight and I went and got a couple of farewell beers from across the road from the hotel.

Wedding meal at last night in Guangxi

We left Pingguo in a bit of a mess with last-minute travel arrangements etc... I've left half a suitcase of clothes here that I hope will be available and will fit next time I come.

A Zheng and his family gave us a lift down to Nanning, much as they'd given us a lift up to Pingguo over three months ago. The only nice thing about the journey was seeing Xixi at the other end. She now can shout "BA BA" whenever she sees me and it melts my heart.

In the evening we were scheduled to attend a wedding for a couple of which one was related to Tan's dad. Xixi didn't come due to the time but Leilei enjoyed it tremendously, especially the stage diving (well not exactly that).


Tan and her younger cousin A Heng during the wedding in Nanning


Leilei making shadows during the wedding for all to see


Leilei stage jumping

I was amazed by the rather thin groom's ability to put back copious glasses of white alcohol as he had to "ganbei" just about every other bloke in the room. He let me into a little secret afterwards, telling me it was just water. What a lightweight! During my Chinese wedding I had no such option!


I'm not sure you're supposed to eat the bride (not while everyone's watching anyway)


After the meal I let everyone go back in a couple of cabs and decided to go off to the famous "Zhong Shan Lu" which is a street full of sumptuous bbq with something available to every taste from vegetarians to full-blown serial killers. After walking for 15 mins I decided on a nice looking stall with a good range of food and oredered myself some octopus and some nice looking bits of pork. I sat on my own table and ordered myself a beer. Not wanting to eat alone, I said "cheers!" to the people on the next table and before I could finish my glass I was sitting with them, sharing their (and my) meal, and showing photographs of the family. We had a nice hour or so together, after which we exchanged phone numbers and QQ numbers, and promised to meet the next time I was in Nanning.


Friends made in Zhong Shan Lu

Later got a taxi home for my last night in Guangxi this year...

Last night in Pingguo 2008

Last whole day in Pingguo.

Oh sadness is me...tomorrow we shall go to Nanning shortly before heading home.


Leilei enjoying his last meal in Pingguo

Today we went for a terrific send-off meal with our friends. Then later I went out with some of my friends for a last night of drinks. We first went to a shop to buy stickers I could put on the back of my car to cover some of the peeling paint. Then we ended up in the bar of some friends which had just opened the previous day. It was actually a very nice place, with a touch of an English pub but still having a bbq place outside.


Me with the staff of the nice Pingguo bar we discovered on my last night

Later, much later, we somehow found ourselves in the Pingguo International Hotel, where I ordered the boys a vodka, until A Wu's wife A Ni came along after her shift at about midnight and I ordered her a Cointreau. Then the lads decided hers was the best drink so I ordered a couple more of them. For 4/5 people it came to 30 quid in all which was pretty expensive but sod it it was my last night here..

Whisky with Brandy's friend at the new hotel

The friend of Brandy-the-hotel-boss has been ringing me for a few days asking to take us out for a meal. So I told him the 26th may be good. True to his word he rang up to confirm today.

After picking up Leilei from school (no Christmas holidays here!) I went to meet A Wu at the Pingguo Internation Hotel, a new building near the town square where his wife A Ni has been working for the last few weeks.

We went to the bar and sat down while deciding what to drink. A Wu said he wanted to be British, or at least do something in that style, so I suggested a scotch. He was only too happy until it was served. The young lady at the bar had probably not had to pour such a drink before and she served us huge helpings. Unfortunately the scotch (it was Famous Grouse or some other half-decent brand) was rather strong for A Wu, even after we had watered it down to near-homoeopathic proportions with water, which meant I had to help him out with most of it. Still, he was willing to pose for pictures as he liked his "British" look.


A Wu looking like an English gentleman

The meal we had was nice, and gave us the chance to meet Brandy's friend's wife and son. I really should know his name though.

Christmas meal with friends and mulled wine

Happy Christmas!

Well it's our first Christmas in China and it's not the most Christmassy. However that hasn't stopped Leilei having fun.

I bought him a fake Lego present today (they don't have real Lego here), and while in the supermarket I bumped into three American girls. They are here for just a week or two to teach some English to the locals, and it was arranged by the American family living here.

Today I invited all our friends to come for a nice meal at an expensive restaurant as it was Christmas. In preparation I'd also managed to buy some cinnamon, brown suger, and oranges/apples all from the local market in order to make some mulled wine. In fact the mulled wine went down very well, except for A Xia who has recently found out she is pregnant much to everyone's delight. Unfortunately the cheapest house red was a fiver but one bottle seemed to suffice so not bothered there. The restaurant staff even layed on a "huo guo" thing to help us warm it up.

So, no Christmas tree with presents, but a lovely meal with friends which is more important in my book.


Our Chinese Christmas meal - lots of lovely grub for everyone!

Meeting the Americans

Tan and I went for another meal at the Ming Dien Coffee Language Hotel. Tan rang A Ni, who said she'd be around in 20 mins after a quick shower. Then she had the cheek to complain when she turned up over an hour later as if she wouldn't do the same.

Apparently Tan has been taking my advice about coming here to eat during the cold. At least she knows I'm always right (well...). I left when A Ni turned up as I needed to pick up Leilei from school.

Either today or recently I took Leilei to the Americans' apartment as I needed half an hour's sleep. Their apartment is very nice and rather grand for Pingguo. I noticed a message daubed in large red letters around the top of the wall in the kitchen: "IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE WORLD" or something to that effect. In another time something like that may have been illegal. Anyway I left Leilei playing Lego with his friends (or "Legos" as they say in American) and came back a bit later.

In the evening we went out for a lovely meal (for the nth time) with Tan's new circle of friends and their husbands. I made my own way on the electric bike solely as I knew this is the last week I'll be using it and I'll really miss it. Leilei was a bit naughty during the meal; he likes to spin the revolvable food holder around and when we told him not to he went out and did it on others' tables as in the video.

One-handed driving due to the cold

Drove Leilei one-handed to school in order that the other would survive in case of frostbite. If the minimum really is 7 degrees I'm shit-scared of going back to UK in one week. At least we'll have heating there. And jumpers.

Got back and fell asleep around 11am. I remembered to turn my phone off. This was good because I would have received three phone calls during catching up on shut-eye. However I was woken up by A Wu walking into my room at 2pm as he has a key. Apparently he had knocked but I'd not heard him - imagine if my phone had been turned off for a different reason and we hadn't heard him for that reason.... Tan came back at 3pm....

My note to self worked. I took Tan and Leilei to the Ming Dien hotel where we had another lovely meal for less than 7 quid. It's bloody cold now. I did go out for a little bbq and lamb huo guo as Tan's friends' had invited her but she was feeling a little ill so I stepped in. A Wu invited me to go to "sing song" but by the time I got there he had left as he was too drunk. Wanker. I would at least have let me know.

Getting colder but Ming Dien nice

Hell's Bells. We get a daily text message telling us the min and max temperatures, which is how I knew yesterday was 24 degrees. Last night's said 7-11 degrees. And this morning it was bitchingly cold on the bike to school. I allowed Leilei to put his hands in his pockets and held him tight with my legs during the 5 minute journey. Once back I managed to get some sleep during the day as the bed was the only place with warmth.

At 4.30pm the electricity went (it had rained a little during the day so I presume this is why). So as light would go by 6pm, and it would be hard to cook, I decided that after picking up Leilei I would take him to one of Pingguo's decent hotels for tea. We drove to the Ming Dien Coffee Language Hotel. Apparently they serve coffee there. And it has its own language. I didn't investigate, as all I knew was that this place was warm and...well that was all that was important. Because if you live further south than some line in China you do not get government heating, and if you live north of that line you do. I think that's the deal. Certainly no-one here appears to have any form of heating, presumably as it would only be useful for a month or two a year. For me that is more than enough reason.

Anyway, we had a lovely meal, and Leilei's teacher turned up for a meal with her friend. She was saying "poor you" to me as I was feeding my son, as if this was a woman's job, and came to our table and helped him eat his eggs and fried rice. I had bbq pork ribs with rice, greens, peanuts and pickled vegetables. Leilei's was a large helping of beef-fried rice with peppers, and two sticks of bbq pork plus a fried egg. We both got a portion of soup and a portion of some sort of omelletty jelly like substance that was quite nice. Plus as much warm water as we could drink. The bill came to 50 kuai, which was more than we may have spent elsewhere, but not that much and not in such nice surroundings. There were even Christmas trees and lots of lights to keep Leilei amused so I was able to eat in peace too. We took home a doggy bag with enough to fill an adult for the next day. Note to self: come back tomorrow.

Back to Nanning as missed the kids...and City lose again...

Woke up at 6.30am after four hours' sleep. I missed Xixi and Leilei too much so I took the electric bike down to the bus station to see what time the buses went to Nanning. As it turned out one was literally leaving that minute and I managed to stop it as it was driving out of the bus station. Called Tan while on the bus and it turns out she's in Shandong on the other side of China with a friend. She was supposed to be helping her sister sort out her pension in Guangzhou but something turned up and she had to go to Shandong to pick up some papers apparently.

I arrived at Tan's sister's house at 11am shattered, and found Xixi was asleep, so I went to have a rest with her. But I couldn't sleep as I just wanted to watch her. Later, when she woke up, she was happy to see me, and after going for a wee (her, not me) I took her and Leilei out to play for a bit. Leilei knows a lot of the boys in the complex now - they all go out with their "Tuo luo" (spinning tops) and have fights with them, as in which top is last left spinning. Spinning tops seem all the rage now in this part of China, more popular even than yoyos.

When I took Xixi to see the fish in the pond she shouted out "yu!", which is Chinese for "fish". She also knows how to shout out "Yeiyei!" when she sees her big brother. I am very proud of her.

I decided to take Leilei back to Pingguo in the afternoon as he has school tomorrow and I don't like him missing it. We got back around 6.30pm and went to A Wu's house for a meal as it was "Dong wei" or something like that; it means the first day of the winter, when traditionally families eat together. Well today it reached 24 degrees C and I was very happy about that indeed. I know that wearing tee-shirts in December is something I won't be doing for long...

Meal with A Ni's dad before the match later

As I was taking Leilei home I got a call from A Wu to go to the KTV bar to "sing song". I explained I had Leilei so would go for 10 minutes. This time I was true to my word. The room was full of oldish people and smoke. Leilei has a cough at the moment so and did a few "gan bei"s and left.

Stayed up to watch Man City provide probably their definitive performance of the season at WBA, as in, "we know that most of us are going to be replaced in January so we don't give a shit". Depressing. You might think that some of them gave a shit. Back in the bottom three where quite frankly we belong.

Too much KTV

Went to eat at A Wu's in the evening. During the meal got a call from Uncle Yellow to go and "sing song". Well I was supposed to go for a massage tonight as my back's been playing up, but I probably won't see much more of him this year so I accepted, and A Wu was invited too. Normally I do quite enjoy these evenings, but tonight I was absolutely knackered, having woken up at 11.30am after two hours' sleep. I don't know why I couldn't sleep last night. When we got to the karaoke room it was full of mostly drunk men, one of whom insisted I sit between him and some woman I didn't know (his wife, concubine?). I wasn't in the mood for drinking and reluctantly downed a number of thimble-sized glasses. We then room-hopped to a place that had some teachers from A Wu's old school, then a room with a friend who was celebrating his birthday. At each room I had to down more beers and sing songs. Actually room-hopping was far more enjoyable than the original room with the drunk men leching over the three women. Eventually at 11pm Uncle Yellow decided to leave and I went with him. He said there were too many undesirables that came into his room and spoilt it a little. I agreed with him and said it is one thing to enjoy a drink, and another to enjoy it while making others not enjoy it. I think he understood what I meant. As I was walking into my apartment complex A Wu was gesturing for me to come back and go to another karaoke room where some other friends were. But I'd had enough and had no qualms about losing face by telling him so.

At least I managed to enjoy a game of ping pong

The price of things...

Despite being on leave I dialled into a meeting as it was quite important. However, as I was enjoying being alone and geeking on the internet I got a call from A Wu asking me to go out and "drink tea". Needless to say no tea was drunk, but beer was. This time I hardly got drunk as I was too full from the bbq fish and fried sweetcorn.

I reckon things in China are on average 4.5 times cheaper than in UK. Some things, like labour are 10 times cheaper, whereas actual things (commodities?) can be three times more expensive. A bottle of beer from a shop is 30p, in a restaurant it is 35p, which doesn't reflect the 300% mark up we get in the UK. But a bus ticket for the 90 minute ride to Nanning is 3.50GBP, which would probably get you from London to Birmingham in the UK (if you really wanted to go there).

A haircut is one quid max. A laptop stand, complete with underneath fan to prevent overheating is just a fiver, but a half decent laptop will set you back 600 quid where in the UK you would get it for half that plus a valid version of windows. Queer.

Either way, when a 50 minute massage and head wash costs 1.50 you can't complain.

Staying up till 6am to see City lose...

No work tomorrow, but Tan and the kids went to Nanning today so that Tan can help sort out her 2nd sister's pension.

I took the opportunity to go out with A Wu and some friends to "drink tea" where nothing tea-like was imbibed and instead there was copious amounts of weak beer. There was a wedding celebration at the place we were drinking and the men there "forced" me to down a couple of glasses with them.

I eventually got home at about 2am, after being given a 9-pack of beers, only two of which I would be able to drink later. Later being staying up till 6am to see Man City lose dreadfully to Racing Santander in our last group match of the UEFA cup. I know we'd already qualified, but this was a crap performance and makes me wonder how long Mark Hughes deserves to stay in charge. I hate the fact that we appear to be able to not give an effort until the January transfer window arrives. We have a better team on paper than this time last year when we were in the top three yet we are not in the bottom three due to goal difference alone. Being a Man City supporter hasn't changed yet...


Playing cai ma with the lads

White Rabbit

Xixi isn't walking yet but she can do if you hold her hands. And she can get up on her own. Personally I don't rank walking half as important as being able to shit in the toilet. She's still not perfect at that by any means but one of my biggest highlights this time in China has been holding her over the keyhole shaped shithole and seeing her offload a pile of babydung.

Xixi standing - I didn't have the heart to show her over the toilet

Today, in a rather Alice-esque episode, a white rabbit turned up outside our window. Ok, it didn't say it was in a rush, but as we are on the 2nd floor I though it rather weird how it got there. It turns out it belongs to a neighbour who lets it run out on the roofs. At least it isn't a lemming. I asked the owner (a kid) what its name was and he said it didn't have one. That is a bit of a strange thing here. Pets don't have names.

A white rabbit

Work till 3am interleaved with KTV

I was supposed to be on leave today but something turned up at work, plus two people were sick, which meant I volunteered to work. Having said that I was invited to "sing song" at about 7.30 by A Wu. I couldn't make it due to work but ended up turning up at about 10pm when there were few people left. Not few enough, as friends from a nearby karaoke room turned up and drank beer with me till I was in a suitable mood to sing song.

I managed a couple of renditions of "Peng you" ("Friend") - a popular Hong Kong song in Cantonese. Eventually A Wu's wife turned up with a friend and I was given a break from singing. Someone had used my phone to video me doing karaoke, but as soon as I'd seen (worse, heard) I immediately deleted it. Wow - that was bad. "Spirit in the Sky" and "No Matter What" are best left to the professionals.

Back home I worked till 3am and when I got to bed Tan was asking why so late. It's an occupational hazard when you are working eight hours ahead of your colleagues. I wouldn't be in China without this though so she shouldn't complain.

A Wu's relative at the karaoke. I think the other bloke is her husband or something.

Leilei haircut for Mario Kart DS

I think I had a nice meal with friends today. Can't quite remember but it is a reasonable guess. Anyway, afterwards Tan was out so I took Leilei to have his hair cut as now literally everybody who doesn't know him thinks he's a girl. Literally everyone. I took him to Lao Ma's salon, who was Tan's good friend five years ago but now appears not to be. I'm not sure how the haircut turned out but at least people think he's a he again... At least he didn't complain and shave of all my arm hair this time - I'd promised him a game of Mario Kart DS if he didn't complain and he kept his word. Leilei's new haircut

Another wedding

We had to go to another wedding meal today. In fact it was a celebration of the "newly"weds' marriage and 30 days since birth of their kid. I got to meet more of Tan's extended family. I'm starting to think that nobody in this town is not related. It was a great meal and I only had about one pint of beer.

Some of Tan's dad's relatives

All related

Not buying an apartment

Sau zi came today and told me I wasn't to buy a flat in the apartment we had viewed because it was too expensive and too noisy. She had a strange explanation for why it was too expensive. Apparently when the materials were bought to build the apartment complex they were very expensive. Now, the materials are cheaper so the houses being built at the moment will be cheaper. Ok. So no-one will buy the houses bought when concrete was more expensive and they will be left empty? Something tells me even China's economy is not immune to the value of potential buyers' pockets. If the newly built houses are 25% cheaper are they going to keep asking 25% more for those just completed?

Xixi is looking cute though.

A smiling Xixi and mama